Theater and Dance Research Guide 

What's Here

In-depth research will often take one to special materials at Yale. It is important to know how and where to find out information about these materials and resources.

The links below will describe the main special resources and archives at Yale:

• Newspaper and Microform Reading Room
• Manuscripts and Archives
• Drama Collection in the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library
• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
• Center for British Arts (BAC)
• Yale Art Gallery
• Visual Resources Collection

See also:

Archival Finding Aids Project at Yale

Primary Sources at Yale

At the Newspaper and Microform Reading Room

Sterling Memorial Library has over 1200 sets of microfilms and microfiches concerning theater or drama. The following are some of the larger ones:

American theatre periodicals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

19 microfilm reels. SML Microform Room, Film B16608 (Guide: PN2000 A3 +A43 1989)

The most complete runs available of selected periodicals dating from 1805 to 1929. For a fuller description click here.

Drama on the world stage: prompt books and performance records. Series 1. 55 microfilm reels.

SML Microform Room, Film B18215 (Guide: Z881 W324 D73 1989)

A collection of non-Shakespearean promptbooks from the 17th century through the 19th century, including plays by Middleton, Shirley, Congreve, Otway, Boucicault and Ibsen. There are promptbooks from well-known figures such as Samuel Phelps, W.C. Macready, and Charles Kean.

Drury Lane under Sheridan, 1776-1812: manuscript plays and managerial correspondence from the British Library, London. 16 microfilm reels.

SML Microform Room, Film B18323

This publication offers 130 plays submitted to Richard Brisley Sheridan during his years of proprietorship at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 1776-1812. The papers and correspondence derive from both the Additional Manuscripts (35118 and 4270-42723) and the Egerton Series (1975-1976). Many of the alterations and directions were made by Sheridan himself. The collection incorporates several volumes of correspondence, chiefly of Thomas Sheridan, actor, theater-manager and father of R.B. Sheridan, as well as material of R.B. Sheridan himself. Additionally, there are prologues and epilogues to plays and fragments of dramatic pieces.

Loseley manuscripts, 1509-1625. 24 microfilm reels.

SML Microform Room, Film MISC 1367

Manuscripts and other rare documents, illustrative of some of the more minute particulars of English history, biography, and manners, from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of James I., preserved in the muniment room of James More Molyneux, esq. at Loseley house, in Surrey.

New York Theater, 1919-1961. 877 microfiches.

SML Microform Room, Fiche B4177

The entire set contains 26,000 photographs from the Vandamm Collection in The New York Public Library and Museum of the Performing Arts. Yale has the following sections: Great American Drama (74 productions - 87 microfiche); Modern European DramaExpressionist Theater (15 productions - 16 microfiche). (166 productions - 176 microfiche); and Expressionist Theater (15 productions - 16 microfiche)

Nineteenth century theatre periodicals. 54 microfilm reels in 3 parts.

Among the subjects covered in these periodicals are: reviews of new plays and news of forthcoming production; criticism of individual performances; illustration of popular scenes; biographies, pen portraits and cartoons of theatrical personalities; and "Green Room" topics of the day.

The papers of David Garrick.

SML Microform Room, Film B18355

This series provides a complete edition of the Garrick correspondence from the John Forster Collection at the National Art Library. The 2,000 letters include not only those to the members of his own company (Charles Macklin, Mrs Cibber and Spranger Barry), but also to influential dramatists such as George Colman, R.B. Sheridan and Charles Dibdin. Among his many non-theatrical correspondents were statesmen, writers, artists, military leaders and churchmen, including Hannah More, Chippendale, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Gainsborough, Hogarth, William Cowper, Edmund Burke and Voltaire.

The papers of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry: from the Bram Stoker Collection, the Shakespeare Centre Library, Stratford-upon-Avon. 30 microfilm reels in 2 parts.

SML Microform Room, Film B18324

The material here includes many playtexts in various stages of revision and alteration. Among the annotated versions are copies of Cymbeline, Coriolanus and the prompt books for his acclaimed Hamlet. Both Lyceum productions and the company's tours of America are comprehensively documented. Part One covers the main sequence of playtexts and adaptations, magazine articles, playbills and programs, tour records, letters, pictures and reviews, filmed in chronological order by category. Part Two includes the "portfolio" material of letters, drawings and programs, and the press-cutting volumes covering the years 1883-98.

Public entertainments: a collection of pamphlets. 1 microfilm reel.

SML Microform Room, Film B4737

The Sadler's Wells archives from Finsbury Central Library, London.

SML Microform Room, Film B18322

The collection documents the rise of Grimaldi, the heyday of popular classical theatre under Samuel Phelps in the 1840s, and Sadler's Wells' evolution as a major venue for opera and dance. Included are the manuscripts of 19th-century plays and pantomimes, the sheet music or lyrics of songs performed by Grimaldi and others, performers' biographical materials, press notices and reviews and programs for the period 1880-1912.

Theatre playbills

SML Microform Room, Fiche B4581(Guide: PN2093 .K3 1977)

Theatre playbills from North American nonprofit repertory theatres, 1947-1976, in the collection of the Theatre Communications Group, New York. Includes Yale Repertory Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre.

Twentieth century British theatre periodicals.

SML Microform Room, Film B16607 (Guide: PN2001 A1 +T85 1987)

Contains the complete runs of The playgoer, 1901-1904, and Play pictorial, 1902-1939. 11 microfilm reels.

At Manuscripts and Archives

Primary Sources for the Study of Art, Architecture and Drama

The theater and drama-related archives include:

• Crawford Theater Collection
• Records of the Dean of the Yale School of Drama 
  • Robert Brustein
  • Howard Stein
  • Lloyd Richards
• George Pierce Baker Papers
• Edward C. Cole Papers
• Walter Prichard Eaton Papers
• Harvey Fierstein Papers
• John Gassner Papers
• Frank Alonzo McMullan Papers
• Thomas Wilfred Papers
• Videos from the YSD Collection

At the Drama Collection in the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library

The Drama Collection has many special collections, including photos, clippings, scripts and videos.  Not all collections are open for research at this time.  If you are interested in working with these materials, please review the Special Collections policies and contact Haas Family Arts Library staff for assistance.

At the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Some collections and archives of interest:

Philip Barry

Za Barry Preliminary Survey Some scripts and photos.

Frank Bevan

Za Bevan Preliminary Survey

Witold Gombrowicz

Uncat MS Vault 816 Preliminary Survey

Hutchins Hapgood

YCAL MSS 41 Finding Aid (HTML format)

Robert Edmond Jones

Za Jones, Robert Edmond Preliminary Survey

Eugene O'Neill

Papers - YCAL MSS 123 Finding Aid (HTML format)

Collection - YCAL MSS 124 Finding Aid (HTML format)

Includes scripts and photos for major play productions, correspondence, other documentation. There are also several related collections; inquire with Beinecke staff.

Phoenix Theatre

Za Phoenix Theatre: Preliminary Survey

Lloyd Richards papers, ca. 1979-1991

Uncat MSS 889: Preliminary List

Uncat MSS 937: Preliminary List

Theatre Guild

Za Theatre Guild: Preliminary Survey

UNCAT Za Theatre Guild: Finding Aid (HTML format)

Photographs and promptbooks for many productions, as well as correspondence and financial documents.

Thornton Wilder

YCAL MSS 108: Finding Aid (HTML format)

Includes scripts and photos for major play productions, biographical materials, other documentation.

At the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA)

The YCBA has its own library. Materials include items in the following collections:

• Prints & Drawings collection (mainly of Shakespearean scenes and actors)
• The Boydell collection of Shakespeare prints
• The Nathan collection on London landmarks (including theaters)
• Paul Mellon collection
• Works by Hogarth
• plus rare books, toy theaters, fabric samples, pop-up books, and other collections.

The YCBA ia also often referred to as the British Art Center (BAC).

Please contact the YCBA librarians at ycba.reference@yale.edu (203.432.2818), for further information and resources and services.

At the Yale University Art Gallery

Some Greek and Roman artifacts, Asian materials (including prints on Japanese theater), Edwin Austin Abbey's Shakespearean paintings, Gavarni's carnival lithographs, and other materials.

At the Visual Resources Collection

There are numerous theater-related images throughout the VRC in a variety of formats (paper, slides, digital images). A particularly large group of slides, the Robin Thurlow Lacy slides (primarily copystand photos), is currently housed at the Mudd Library, but can be viewed at the VRC by special arrangement.